This photo-like image of the Texas and Louisiana coasts shows the impact of Hurricane Ike’s powerful storm surge on coastal wetlands. Hurricane Ike came ashore bringing with it a wall of water that stretched from Galveston, Texas, across all of coastal Louisiana.
Ike had sustained winds of 165 kilometer per hour (105 miles per hour) with stronger gusts about the time this image was taken. Despite the strong winds, the real danger associated with Ike was coastal flooding and large, damaging waves.